By Sejal Grover | Published on January 1, 2024
The late 1980s was a time when anti-aging products like collagen, curcumin, Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and others were used to prevent the unfavorable effects of biological aging. This idea includes wrinkles, gray hair, an increase in body fat, and more. However, age-related diseases (ex. dementia, Alzheimer's, loss of hearing) is one of the most frightening effects of aging. Throughout history, people would do anything to make sure they live a long life where they are both physically and mentally healthy.
The difference between chronological age and biological age is that chronological age is the number of years you've been alive, while biological age correlates with how old your cells and tissues are. To find out your biological age, scientists use epigenetic clocks. Epigenetics is the study of changes in the characteristics of a cell or organism. Epigenetic clocks are biochemical tests that work by using changes in the epigenome, usually DNA methylation which is the activity of our DNA alterations while the sequence of the DNA stays the same. This changed gene expression is related to the rate at which we age. Scientists can find a correlation between epigenetic markers and biological age.
There are ways to reduce the effects of aging, such as diet and exercise, which affect epigenetic aging. Scientists are looking to develop epigenetic clocks in a completely new way. Older epigenetic clocks were not sensitive enough to pick up on biological changes that formed from health interventions. For example, the changed gene expression due to a reduction in calories could not be picked up on and scientists could not figure out the exact effects of epigenetic aging. Modern clocks like DunedinPACE can show changes in your diet or lifestyle that can affect how quickly you age. DunedinPACE is so sensitive that a randomized control study conducted by Columbia University showed how calorie intervention slowed down biological aging by 2-3% and overall meant a decrease in mortality rate (Columbia University, 2023). This shows that sensitive and highly accurate epigenetic clocks are required to reveal the factors that influence our rate of aging, which can push back undesirable effects of aging, such as age-related diseases. Additionally, epigenetic clocks are extremely personalized because everybody’s body is different, and so their gene expressions will also be different. Therefore, they need to be developed increasingly to be used effectively and worldwide.
David Sinclair has conducted a study that answers the question of what drives aging. The Professor of genetics who is involved in co-directing for the “Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School”, worked for several years and finally reformed the theory that aging is only caused by DNA mutations (Park, 2023). Sinclair focused on the epigenome, which provides different instructions on gene expression to different cells, leading to differentiation! Sinclair and his colleagues studied epigenetic aging by accelerating the aging of mice, but also reversing the effects of aging. He did this by ‘‘rebooting’’ the epigenetic instructions given to specific cells, such as skin cells. Sinclair found that taking a drug called doxycycline could potentially reverse the clock, and stopping consumption would stop the reverse. “He anticipates eye diseases will be the first condition used to test this aging reversal in people since the gene therapy can be injected directly into the eye area” (Park, 2023). This process is known as rejuvenation.
In conclusion, epigenetic clocks can be used to track the rate of aging, which allows scientists to efficiently implement ways to reduce the undesirable effects of aging. Whether that is a simple change in diet or a new prescription to reboot your gene expression. This developing idea is considered to be an accessible way to time travel, instead of using a machine that takes you through time. You can effectively alter your gene expression to live a healthy and long life, even if your chronological age is different. Scientists are very excited to explore the world of epigenetics and to get to the root of biological aging with the help of epigenetic clocks.
Works Cited:
“Epidemiologists Develop State-of-the-Art Tool for Measuring Pace of Aging.” Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 6 July 2023, www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/epidemiologists-develop-state-art-tool-measuring-pace-aging.
Park, Alice, and Video by Andrew. D Johnson. “Scientist Discovers Aging Clock to Speed and Reverse Aging.” Time, Time, 12 Jan. 2023, time.com/6246864/reverse-aging-scientists-discover-milestone/.
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